by Edward Alexander

Local attorney, president of Board of Directors of Whatcom Peace & Justice Center

The County Council is voting on the Comprehensive Plan tonight. Just ahead of the meeting, at 5:30, some folks from INK (Imagine No Kages) are getting together near the Centennial Pole next to the Courthouse steps to hand out fliers and ask people to use part of their three-minute public comment to tell the County Council they oppose the plan in Appendix E to spend an additional $112,000,000 on incarcerating people in Whatcom County. I believe allocating that much additional money to incarceration could lead to a big increase in incarceration.

Here’s why: The capacity of the main jail is 212 inmates. The minimum-security facility holds an additional 150 people. Last year, voters voted down a $100,000,000 proposal to build a new 521-bed jail. My sources for the numbers are below. Tonight, the County Council is voting on a comprehensive plan that includes $112,000,000 for an incarceration facility.

Although the plan explicitly and intentionally leaves out the number of people we will be incarcerating at this facility, $112,000,000 is more than enough to build the 521-bed jail that voters rejected last year. Upping the number of beds in the jail from 212 to 521 would more than double the jail size.

In an effort to meet the community need, the County plans to construct a new, expanded,and/or remodeled Adult Corrections Facility within the six-year planning period. The cost ofthe facility is approximately $112,000,000, which has been proposed to be paid for withbond proceeds that would be repaid with new sales tax. As an interim measure, existingcorrection facility improvements are planned so that these buildings can continue to functionuntil the new or remodeled jail is completed. The cost of the improvements to the existingjail facilities is approximately $3,000,000, which would be paid from the Jail ImprovementFund and the General Fund. There are no capital improvement projects currently identifiedthat would add jail facilities within the 7 to 20 year planning period. However, the Countywill monitor the adequacy of jail facilities throughout the planning period and considercapital improvements if warranted in the future. Maintenance projects will be undertaken asneeded.

There are so many options other than incarceration that building jails is not the option I as a Whatcom resident want. I know the Bellingham Municipal Court refers some to serve under house arrest with electronic monitoring, I hope the Dsitrict and Superior Courts well follow suit.

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